A press event to announce the game should be scheduled in the next couple of weeks. The Crunch is trying to coordinate the schedules of Sen. Charles Schumer and Gov. David Patterson, who want to attend to event. Schumer has been vital in keeping the idea alive and helping to find funding for it.
“All systems are go,’’ said Syracuse owner Howard Dolgon.
Dolgon and his staff are still trying to nail down all the logistics. The game will cost in the $700,000 range to put on, which the Crunch footing much of that bill, about $400,000-$500,000. The Crunch’s costs will vary depending upon how much needs to be spent on marketing The team has already rounded up a lot of sponsorship commitments, as well.

Paul posted earlier about the trade between Philly and the Jackets. Stefan Legein was sent to the Flyers for d-man, Michael Ratchuk.

Stefan has always been one of my favorite prospects, yeah, even with the “retirement” and everything. Here’s the thing though, while I am sad that I won’t get to see Legein in a Blue Jackets jersey, I am so happy for him. This is his chance to get a new start. He will be in an entirely new environment, with new teammates. Teammates that he didn’t let down, teammates who (in theory) won’t judge him for what happened while he was a Blue Jacket.

The Blue Jackets are off to the best start in franchise history. 5-1-0 and are sitting fifth in the Western Conference. The Blue Jackets have lost ONE game, it’s a nice change from previous seasons. The game last night, was great for a number of reasons, starting from the beginning when I found out that Kris Russell, had signed a three-year extension.

The Columbus Blue Jackets opened their season against the Minnesota Wild. It was an amazing game. The Jackets were tentative at first, but eventually got their act together and got the win.

With the new season, I’m changing my post game format.

The Hot:

*Umberger getting the short-handed goal. Not to mention the first goal of the season for the Blue Jackets.
*Steve Mason picking right up where he left off.
*Hitchcock is still getting great cheers from the fans, I love that man.
*Rusty Klesla getting a goal on the day he signed an extension. (More on this later)
*Voracek is huge. It was my first time seeing this kid since last season, wow.

The Blue Jackets will open their season against the Minnesota Wild. They will be doing it without Mike Commodore. He has been placed on IR with a groin pull according to Puck-Rakers. Roy has been called up from Syracuse. It’s a huge loss for the Blue Jackets, but let’s just hope that he isn’t out for a long period of time.

Now to the home opener. It should be a great game. There is some bad blood between the Wild and the Jackets, going back to the preseason when Eric Belanger boarded Chimera. Belanger did apologize for the hit, but Chimera is standing his ground saying it was a dirty hit. However, I think Boll said it best:

“It’s always in the back of your head,” Boll said. “We know who did it and we know what happened, but we can’t let that get in the way of getting two points. This is a huge year for the franchise and we want to get off on the right foot and that’s with a win, not trying to get back at somebody.”

Due to some pressure from my good friend, Mike Chen, I decided I should blog about my experience with DirecTV. Believe me, it wasn’t pretty.

Saturday, I picked up my phone and dialed DirecTV. I wanted to complain about not getting Versus, while it may not be my favorite coverage, it still IS hockey coverage.

Let me make this clear, I am a Center Ice Subscriber, I get HBO and Cinemax, and the Sports Pack, which allows me to get all the local sports channels. DirecTV gets quite a bit of money from me every month. I have been with them for three years. The ONLY reason I switched to DirecTV was so I could get Center Ice and Versus. They did later add the NHL Network.

“Anton fits a critical need on our roster,” Howson said. “He’s got puckmoving ability and power-play potential. He’s a right-(hand) shot, too, which is a nice bonus.
“He’s still a young player in the league, so he has a lot of upside, too.”

We have needed that right-handed shot for quite a while, and he has power-play potential.